Olympic notebook

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 15, 2002

Afghans look forward to Olympic return

KABUL, Afghanistan -- For years, Sayyid Masool and other Afghan Olympic hopefuls trained in secret, avoiding the Taliban police who often closed the wrestling school during prayer times.

But with the Taliban gone, athletes, even women, now can train freely, and Afghanistan is asking the International Olympic Committee to lift its ban against the country.

Masool is hopeful that after eight years of training, he can finally compete internationally.

"I want to be a wrestler for my country," Masool, 23, said.

Afghanistan was suspended by the IOC in 1999 in part because the Taliban prohibited women from competing in sports.

Enrollment at the wrestling club plummeted from a high of 250 before the Taliban took over to 50 last year.

Since the defeat of the Taliban, enrollment at the wrestling school, one of four in Kabul, has tripled to 150.

Habibshah Iqbal Paryani, the head of the club who competed in the 1980 Olympics, said six students might be ready by 2004.

But the country still faces many hurdles.

The whitewashed walls of the one-room club are gray with grime. Several of the windows lining one wall are missing or broken, and athletes change at the side of the mats because there is no changing room.

Some cannot afford the $1.10 monthly fee and are let in for free. Frequent power outages disrupt the training.

And many Afghans still don't have access to independent news.

Masool, for example, did not even know that the Winter Olympics were now taking place in Salt Lake City.

BRIEF TALK: "Yo, what's up, man?"

That was how Matt Kooreman greeted President Bush when U.S. speed skater Joey Cheek gave the president his cell phone during the Opening Ceremony.

"I thought it was just going to be some speed skater," Kooreman said.

In response to Kooreman's greeting, Bush replied, "How are you doing? We have a bad connection. I can hardly hear you."

Kooreman, one of the country's top long-track skaters before retiring two years ago, is working for NBC.

MOOSE ON THE LOOSE: German luger George Hackl was having breakfast at his rented home near the slopes when some moose wandered by.

Several of them have been hanging around the slopes at Park City. They seem mostly unafraid of people, even the huge Olympic crowds.

Hackl, who won the silver, said he isn't concerned they will try to get too neighborly.

"The man who owns the house has a dog," Hackl said. "So far, we haven't had to worry about the moose."

OLYMPIC LOVE: Norway's Liv Grete Poiree has a special Valentine's flower to go with her new silverware.

The flower came from her husband, French cross-country skier Raphael Poiree. The silver came from her second-place finish in the 15-kilometer cross-country race.

Liv also finished fourth in the 7.5-kilometer race, and her husband was ninth in the 10-kilometer sprint.

ROYAL AUDIENCE: Fans at Soldier Hollow for the men's 10-kilometer cross-country race included Britain's Princess Anne and Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: The Bare Naked Ladies celebrated their Canadian roots Wednesday night at the Medals Plaza.

The Toronto-based band got a little musical help from pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier -- Sale strummed one of their guitars, and Pelletier banged on a tambourine during a rendition of the Kinks' You Really Got Me.

TAE KWON DO SCANDAL: The son of a South Korean IOC member who was reprimanded in the Salt Lake City bribery case faces questioning by prosecutors in a tournament-fixing scandal.

John Kim, the son of IOC member Kim Un-yong, will be questioned next week about if he received money from a jailed former tae kwon do official.